MANCHESTER, N.H. – On Tuesday, the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BMA) voted on three recommendations intended to improve operations at the Beech Street Shelter.
Those three recommendations came without public notice at the end of BMA Special Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs and Youth Services on March 18 when Ward 10 Alderman Bill Barry and Ward 12 Alderwoman Kelly Thomas referenced a recent visit to the Beech Street Shelter and felt that it would be more appropriate if Manchester Director of Housing Stability Adrienne Beloin have her office in unused areas at the shelter rather than its current location at the Carol Rines Center on Elm Street.
During the visit, Barry and Thomas felt that individuals at the shelter were disengaged and the oversight of Beloin would have been beneficial in creating more efficiency on site.
That request to move Beloin’s office came in contrast to a plan to move Beloin to City Hall this summer instead, highlighting Beloin’s push to indicate that the city’s homeless crisis needs not just the reactive approach of the engagement center and shelter on Beech Street but also efforts to create more housing for those in danger of becoming homeless in the future and those who need additional support to obtain housing.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Beloin referenced her agreement with Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais’ recent recommendation for the city to seek outside partners to operate the shelter itself regarding this refocus toward a more holistic approach about the interconnected housing and homelessness problem that the city faces.
In addition to the recommendation to move Beloin’s office, the other recommendations included ensuring policies related to the shelter remains under the purview of the committee and that individuals seeking support at the shelter provide a form of identification or obtain assistance in getting identification if they don’t possess it at the time of their request for shelter.
To date, individuals have not needed to provide identification as part of Beloin’s recommendation of low barrier entry, believing that individuals seeking help will become discouraged if unnecessary barriers stand in their way. Individuals at the shelter have been given support in obtaining identification in the past after reporter that many homeless individuals in the city had issues retaining their identification cards on a regular basis.
During the meeting, several Aldermen expressed frustration with Beloin. Ward 9 Alderman Ed Sapienza asked data on how many individuals using the engagement shelter at the shelter have obtained employment, something he has also asked in the past. Thomas felt that more effort should have been done in regard to finding community partners to help with things like employment assistance, with Beloin responding that there are few organizations seeking to help homeless people with employment assistance and the activity at the engagement center has been rising since it opened in September.
Beloin responded to Ward 7 Alderman Ross Terrio’s statement that homeless individuals were sleeping outside the shelter by stating that problem could be addressed by expanding the shelter if the Aldermen wished to do so. She also expressed frustration with a belief from some of the Aldermen that there was a lack of urgency on the part of her staff, stating that her department’s efforts are having an impact.
“It’s not just my data, it’s also from our partner agencies,” she said. “If you are insinuating that I am not telling the truth, you’re saying that they’re not telling the truth.”
Alderman At-Large Dan O’Neil expressed frustration with Beloin’s frustration, believing that her comments to the board were disrespectful, but other members of the board spoke in praise of her efforts.
“I think it’s unfortunate that you make your determination based on what you saw off a few hours on a Friday,” said Ward 2 Alderman Dan Goonan to Barry and Thomas. “I just wish you would believe our department head that she’s doing the work. It’s one of our most difficult populations and it’s hard to work with a lot of these folks.”
Barry replied to that statement expressing his frustration with the conclusion of a recent contract with Gatehouse to help homeless people in need of detox services.
There were also others on the board such as Ward 3 Alderman Pat Long who did not feel comfortable making a determination, stating that more information and communication was needed.
A request asking to defeat the office measure failed 9-5, with Goonan and Long joined by Ward 4 Alderwoman Christine Fajardo, Ward 5 Alderman Tony Sapienza and Ward 9 Alderman Jim Burkush. All three recommendations were then joined together for approval in one motion, which also passed 9-5, with the members of the board voting for the first motion all voting against the second motion.